


Of youngest siblings, and (not) trying

by korereapers



Series: FE3H fic series [5]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Character Study, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:42:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23795578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/korereapers/pseuds/korereapers
Summary: “What do you want.”It’s not even a question. It’s like a dog’s bark, like getting pricked by a particularly pointy cactus. Hilda is used to sharp tones, has been scolded since forever, so she just ignores him and makes a humming noise.Felix groans, his ponytail a little messy after hours of training. He’s cute, Hilda thinks. He would be even cuter if he wasn’t such a prick.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Hilda Valentine Goneril
Series: FE3H fic series [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773310
Comments: 11
Kudos: 57





	Of youngest siblings, and (not) trying

**Author's Note:**

> "what if these two had supports?" then this happened. i am evil and should (not) be stopped

“What do you want.”

It’s not even a question. It’s like a dog’s bark, like getting pricked by a particularly pointy cactus. Hilda is used to sharp tones, has been scolded since forever, so she just ignores him and makes a humming noise.

Felix groans, his ponytail a little messy after hours of training. He’s cute, Hilda thinks. He would be even cuter if he wasn’t such a prick.

“Speak up.” Felix insists, and Hilda bites back a groan. Most people would just be  _ delighted  _ to have her attention. She is Hilda Valentine Goneril, she has a cute face, a beautiful voice. She is hot and charming and she knows it.

Felix is having none of it.

“Can’t I just come and see you train?” she asks, with a natural smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.

Felix looks at her forehead for like five seconds. He doesn’t meet people’s eyes, that much she has noticed. She doesn’t mind, really. It’s the same with Ferdinand, or Linhardt. There are others, like Dimitri, who just look a  _ little  _ too much to overcompensate.

They are nicer, at least. Felix is attractive, but too troublesome. She is here on a mission, though. The mission being obviously:  _ gossip _ .

Felix looks away after a grunt, and swings his sword against the dummy again. It looks like he wants to murder it, judging by the strength of the movement. So much pent up anger. Absolutely tiring, in Hilda’s opinion.

“You don’t care about training. I have seen you.”

Hilda doesn’t care about a lot of things, to be completely honest.

“Goddess, you’re  _ so  _ smart.”

Felix doesn’t comment on her obvious sarcasm. He just hits the dummy again, and again. He is getting impatient, and Hilda realises she cannot really charm him no matter how much she tries. Either because he is utterly uninterested, or because nobody can really charm Felix Hugo Fraldarius.

“You’re here just to get a husband, I bet.”

_ Typical _ . A guy sees a pretty girl, and assumes that she only cares about boys and getting married. Personally, Hilda doesn’t care about either. She also knows some other girls that only pretend to care about that. It’s never that easy.

Men have trouble admitting that the world _doesn’t_ actually revolve around them. Especially Faerghan nobles, with their weird masculinity and their high and mighty martial and religious education. They piss Hilda off, sometimes. She may have joined the Blue Lions house, but that doesn’t mean she cares for Dimitri’s whole mess, or the Kingdom in general.

“Excuse you.” she says, pretending to be offended. She decides to stop being subtle. Felix doesn't get subtlety, and she is not the most patient person. “My brother wanted me to get a proper education, no matter how troublesome that may be.”

Felix freezes. Completely. Hilda mentally pats herself in the back.

"It's a shame for him, then, that you're wasting your talents here." Felix spats, and Hilda decides she is going to ruin that man's whole fucking career.

"What about  _ your _ brother, Felix?"

She feels guilty the moment the words leave her mouth. She may tease and taunt people sometimes, but this is not like her. Felix may be cruel sometimes, but she knows he is mostly bark and no bite.

Their circumstances may be a little similar, but she doesn't have to be worse or even like him.

Hilda cannot see his face, but she sees his shoulders tensing and then slumping, and then tensing again like a tiny animal reminding itself it should appear big and invincible in front of predators.

"Okay, I definitely overstepped. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."

Felix grunts, and throws his sword to the ground. Hilda is actually ready for a fight, but he doesn't move. Felix looks way too tired to be a teenager, and for a moment Hilda is thankful that she cannot understand him wholly. 

"Fuck you. But I deserved that."

"I'm still sorry."

Hilda knows she can show her cards. This man is not clever in the way nobles from the Alliance are. He is not going to plot against her. He actually values people being straightforward. 

"I came here because I think we are similar, in a way."

Felix laughs, and she doesn't know if it's a bitter gesture or not. He should still laugh more, in Hilda's opinion. The sound is actually pretty.

The thing is, Felix  _ is  _ pretty. Not her type, but she can totally get the appeal. She believes that he prefers redheads, though. Hilda herself likes them timid, sweet, and hardworking.

“You’re the youngest sibling.” Felix doesn’t ask, because he knows. It’s a fact, everyone has heard about Holst and about how great he is in both domestic and martial arts. A perfect warrior, a perfect man. Exactly like…

“Aren’t you, too?” she decides to let him believe he’s a smart cookie, that he is the one in control of the whole conversation. He tends to be more cooperative that way, apparently. She owes him, too. “Your brother was incredible, or so I’ve heard.”

Felix sighs, deeply, his fingers massaging his temples as if he had a big headache coming. Maybe he does.  _ If this guy speaks about his true feelings for more than two seconds, he’ll die _ , Hilda thinks.

Not that she is much better in that aspect.

“He is dead.” he says, without even looking in her general direction. His voice sounds sharp, but his eyes are sad. “I am not the youngest sibling anymore. I’m the only one.”

Well, it’s  _ cleeeearly  _ a very touchy subject. Hilda thinks about it, about how she would feel if Holst died. She feels a knot in her stomach, and decides not to follow that train of thoughts.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

“What is he like?” Felix interrupts her, finally looking at her face, somewhere between her left eye and her nose. “Your brother, I mean.”

Hilda swallows, hard, but smiles nevertheless. Her body still feels funny because of the unsettling thought, but she will get over it. Holst can’t die. He is way too strong to die. Brilliant. Polite. Educated. Everything she is not.

“He is… well. Holst is…” she inhales, playing with her fingers a little, a habit she lost somewhere during her preteen years but that has decided to come back somehow. “Perfect. He is perfect.”

Felix nods, once, twice. Hilda doesn’t understand why she is feeling nervous.

“Glenn was, too.” he says, his voice softer. “No matter how much I try, I will never surpass him.”

Something breaks inside of Hilda, but she keeps her composure, her voice shaking as she speaks.

“Why do you train, then?”

At that, Felix smiles, a little. Only a little. He is cute, the same way a rabid cat is cute but you don’t want to pet it too much, just in case.

“Because I’m not him. I can’t be Glenn, no matter how much everyone tries me to be.” Felix starts, breathing deeply. “He is dead, but I am here. And I am myself. That’s all I can be.”

Hilda’s eyes are wet, because she gets it. She cannot utter a single word, but she believes that Felix understands, somehow. He tries for the very same reason that she  _ doesn’t _ , after all.

“I...”

Felix looks away, walking firmly to retrieve his sword, putting it in place. Trying not to pressure her, she realises. She just stays there, her knees shaking a little, barely keeping herself in check.

“I am myself, then…”

Her voice doesn’t look her own, but Felix doesn’t comment on it. He just shrugs, as if he didn’t care, because that’s the way he keeps himself grounded. Keeping others at an arm's length. He fucking sucks at it.

“Thank you, Felix. You’re a good guy, deep down.”

Felix snorts at that, and starts walking towards the exit. He may not be her type, but Hilda sure hopes that they can be friends at the very least.

She sighs, moving towards where the training axes are stocked. She sure has a lot of pent up feelings to deal with, now. And a newfound motivation, too.

He hears Lorenz calling her from the entrance, and she waves at him, smiling from ear to ear. He looks so surprised and disoriented that it makes her laugh a little.

“Goddess. You are training. Are you feeling unwell, my dearest Hilda?”

“Shut up and come train with me!”

**Author's Note:**

> it's 2 am please have mercy
> 
> i'm prayforfroot on twitter. same username for my writing tumblr. my main tumblr is eskuhotzak. you can, idk, say hi if you want to


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